Communication apparatus, wireless communication system and data flow control method

Abstract

A communication apparatus includes an accumulation means 501 that temporarily accumulates communication data in a previous stage of transmission to the MAC layer, an estimation means 502 that estimates an amount of transmittable data, which is an amount of data that can be transmitted in the MAC layer in a predetermined period, by using a radio wave index that is an index related to a radio wave in the frequency and/or a communication index that is an index related to wireless communication using the frequency, the indices being measured by an own apparatus or a wireless device including a MAC layer used by the own apparatus, and a control means 503 that controls, on the basis of an estimation result of the amount of transmittable data, a data flow of when the communication data accumulated in the accumulation means 501 is transmitted to a lower layer.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A communication apparatus that is used in a wireless communication system in which a plurality of wireless devices shares a frequency used for communication and that performs, by operating as an upper layer of a MAC layer included in any of the wireless devices, wireless communication with a different wireless device through the MAC layer, the communication apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor configured to: 
 accumulate, temporarily, communication data in a previous stage of transmission to the MAC layer; 
 estimate an amount of transmittable data, which is an amount of data that can be transmitted in the MAC layer in a predetermined period, by using a radio wave index that is an index related to a radio wave in the frequency and/or a communication index that is an index related to wireless communication using the frequency, the indices being measured by an own apparatus; and 
 control, on the basis of an estimation result of the amount of transmittable data, a data flow of when the communication data is transmitted to a lower layer, 
 wherein the at least one processor estimates an idle time rate of the frequency by using a statistical value of the radio wave index, and estimates the amount of transmittable data by using the acquired idle time rate, the radio wave index, and the communication index, and 
 wherein the at least one processor estimates the amount of transmittable data on the basis of an expectation value of a physical throughput of a wireless link which value is estimated by utilization of the idle time rate and the radio wave index. 
 
     
     
       2. The communication apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one processor determines whether to perform control of the data flow by comparing an amount of data accumulated in the at least one processor with the amount of transmittable data. 
 
     
     
       3. The communication apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one processor estimates, as the amount of transmittable data, the amount of data that can be transmitted in the MAC layer at a control interval of the data flow, and 
 the at least one processor controls the data flow in a case where the amount of data accumulated in the at least one processor exceeds the amount of transmittable data. 
 
     
     
       4. The communication apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one processor predicts an expectation value of an effective throughput including an efficiency loss in the MAC layer by using statistical information indicating a relationship between an effective throughput in the MAC layer, which throughput is measured as one communication index, and the expectation value of the physical throughput, and estimates the amount of transmittable data on the basis of the acquired expectation value of the effective throughput. 
 
     
     
       5. The communication apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one processor performs correction of an expectation value of the effective throughput from the expectation value of the physical throughput by using a model equation of an efficiency loss in the MAC layer with the expectation value of the physical throughput of a radio link which value is one communication index calculated from the radio wave index being an input, and estimates the amount of transmittable data on the basis of the corrected expectation value of the effective throughput in the MAC layer. 
 
     
     
       6. The communication apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the MAC layer uses two or more frequency channels including a plurality of frequency bands, and 
 the at least one processor performs estimation of the amount of transmittable data and control of the data flow for each frequency channel. 
 
     
     
       7. A data flow control method performed by a communication apparatus that is used in a wireless communication system in which a plurality of wireless devices shares a frequency used for communication and that performs, by operating as an upper layer of a MAC layer included in any of the wireless devices, wireless communication with a different wireless device through the MAC layer, the method comprising:
 temporarily accumulating communication data in a previous stage of transmission to the MAC layer; 
 estimating an amount of transmittable data, which is an amount of data that can be transmitted in the MAC layer in a predetermined period, by using a radio wave index that is an index related to a radio wave in the frequency and/or a communication index that is an index related to wireless communication using the frequency, the indices being measured by an own apparatus; and 
 controlling, on the basis of an estimation result of the amount of transmittable data, a data flow of when the communication data is transmitted to a lower layer, 
 wherein when estimating an amount of transmittable data, the communication apparatus estimates an idle time rate of the frequency by using a statistical value of the radio wave index, and estimates the amount of transmittable data by using the acquired idle time rate, the radio wave index, and the communication index, and 
 wherein when estimating an amount of transmittable data, the communication apparatus estimates the amount of transmittable data on the basis of an expectation value of a physical throughput of a wireless link which value is estimated by utilization of the idle time rate and the radio wave index. 
 
     
     
       8. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium in which communication program is recorded, the communication program is installed in a computer that is used in a wireless communication system in which a plurality of wireless devices shares a frequency used for communication and that performs, by operating as an upper layer of a MAC layer included in any of the wireless devices, wireless communication with a different wireless device through the MAC layer,
 the communication program causing the computer to perform: 
 an accumulation processing of accumulating, temporarily, communication data in a previous stage of transmission to the MAC layer in an accumulation unit; 
 an estimation processing of estimating an amount of transmittable data, which is an amount of data that can be transmitted in the MAC layer in a predetermined period, by using a radio wave index that is an index related to a radio wave in the frequency and/or a communication index that is an index related to wireless communication using the frequency, the indices being measured by an own apparatus; and 
 a control processing of controlling, on the basis of an estimation result of the amount of transmittable data, a data flow of when the communication data is transmitted to a lower layer, 
 wherein the communication program causes the computer to perform, in the estimation processing, estimating an idle time rate of the frequency by using a statistical value of the radio wave index, and estimating the amount of transmittable data by using the acquired idle time rate, the radio wave index, and the communication index, and 
 wherein the communication program causes the computer to perform, in the estimation processing, estimating the amount of transmittable data on the basis of an expectation value of a physical throughput of a wireless link which value is estimated by utilization of the idle time rate and the radio wave index.